Rainy day blues
by monkeygirl77
Summary: On a stormy night Tony and Pepper get the surprise of a life time. A familiar face shows up at their doorstep soaking wet and bruised. Maybe this is the start to their family they were waiting for after all.


Raining. It sucked, Tony had planned a whole evening with Pepper. They were going to go out to dinner than to the ocean front, then (hopefully) do some more 'important' business later that night. But because of the rain things went sour and the couple had ended up curled up on the couch, drinking wine, and watching some movie. In all honesty it wasn't that bad, really it wasn't, in the end he still got to be with Pep. There was a bright flash and a loud bang. Than on the TV there was a message on the top of the screen repeating itself.

_According to the Weather Network there has been a Severe thunderstorm warning put in effect for the state of New York. This storm is likely to cause flooding, power outages, dangerous winds, and hail. It is advised to stay away from windows and stay inside. Further information can be found at the weather network website at .org._

After reading it they huddled closer on the couch and focused back on their movie. Hours passed and the storm true to it's prediction had in fact gotten worse. The rain had started pounding at the windows sometime ago and it had yet to slow and the wind had began to howl so much that they had to turn the sound up on their movie. They got comfortable for awhile until they were interrupted by a loud knocking. They automatically assumed it was the wind and ignored it. Until the familiar voice of JARVIS sounded around the room.

"SIr their is a young boy, about 10 years old, outside the door. Shall I let him in?"

Tony's eyes narrowed and Pepper looked up at him in confusion.

"JARVIS do you know the kids name?"

"He says his name is Harley Keener sir. Shall I let him in?"

Tony's eyes widened and Pepper sat up after seeing it. Tony responded with a quick yes and stood up, apologizing to Pepper, and ran towards the door. He thought he was alone but could hear the very familial sound of light foots steps following after him quickly. When he came to the door it was already open. A soaking wet ten year old with shaggy dirty blond hair stuck to his face and over his eyes ran into the multimillionaire's chest causing the iron themed hero to wheeze and take a deep breath. Tony was in shock, no that was an understatement, he was in something more than shock (he didn't know what it was but he was there) the last time he had seen this particular dirty-blonde it was in Tennessee. He could feel the kids wetness seeping through his t-shirt and pajama pants. He wrapped an arm around the crying, shivering, wet boy and closed the door with the other. Once he had he grabbed the kid under the arms and lifted him to his hip. Harley obediently wrapped his arms around his neck and buried his face into the crook or Tony's neck.

Tony held onto the distressed boy and turned around to come face to face with Pepper. She looked between him and Harley and back to him. If his ind was focused on Harley and how he got all the way here from Tennessee he would have smiled and made some cheesy comment. But that was one of the things he loved about Pepper, even if she didn't know the person she still worried about them. She smiled at him and whispered.

"Take good care of him. We can take a rain check."

He nodded and Pepper blew him a kiss before walking off. No doubt going to find something dry for Harley and a place to let him stay. When se was out of sight he turned his attention back to the whimpering kid in his arms. His night short was pretty much soaked through by now and Harley was still shivering. Tony made his way over to the couch and sat down setting the wet child in front of him on the table next to the popcorn bowl. He gently reached out to brush the hair out of the boys face and tried to ignore the way Harley flinched. The boy stared down at his hands and Tony turned on the lamp next to the couch. With better light in the room he was able to get a better look at the large bruise forming on Harley's face. It reached from his eye and down to the tip of his chin. Tony gasped slightly and gently grabbed the boy's chin, turning his head to the side to get a better look at it.

"Harley what happened?"

Harley mumbled something and dropped his head back to his chest, or at least tried to, with Tony's hand still underneath his chin it was kind of difficult so the best he could do was avert his eyes.

"Harls I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong"

Harley jumped up surprising Tony. tears were once again brimming in the kids eyes as he shouted.

"SHE HT ME AND HIT ME AND HIT ME AND HIT ME! THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD DO! SHE WAS SOOO DRUNK AND THEN SHE GOT MAD AND JUST STARTED HITTING ME! THEN SHE STARTED YELLING AT ME TO GET OUT AND NEVER COME BACK AND THAT'S WHAT I DID! SHE SAID THAT SHE DIDN'T WANT TO TAKE CARE OF A WORTHLESS BRAT LIKE ME AND I LEFT! I DON'T NEED HER AND SHE DOESN'T WANT ME!"

Tony cloud only look up at the kid. Never had he thought that someone as small as Harley could have so much... Raw fury. Tears of anger or sadness were falling down his face once more. He blinked a couple times and reached up and grabbed the boy's shaking arms and pulled him back into his chest. He ran his hand through the dirty-blonde locks and shushed him once again.

"Who Harls who?"

"M-my mo-mom"

After their meeting in Tennessee and coming back to his home here in New York he had looked up Harley's mother. Least to say it was a miracle that the boy was only bruised. His mom was a druggie. After her husband walked out and she lost her daughter she drowned herself in drugs. How Harley was able to walk away from that type of person with no more than a couple bruises was a wonder. Tony was pulled out of his thoughts by the lack of noise in the room. He looked down and saw Harley was fast asleep against his chest, he had finally worn himself out. Although he would never admit it he thought Harley was adorable the way he slept, with one of his hands clenched in a fist with part of his shirt in it.

Tony's head snapped in the direction of the bedroom down the hall after hearing a creak. The bedroom door was slightly open and a faint light could be seen leaking out into the dark hall. A hand was waving him over through the crack. He stood up and scooped Harley up with stirred a little but stayed out. Tony walked down the hall and into the bedroom. Pepper was already under the covers leaning back against the headboard. She smiled a soft smile and pointed to the end of the bed where a faded blue t-shirt and another shirt and sleep pants was laying. He smiled and changed out of his wet clothes and into the dry ones. Then he proceeded to strip Harley's wet clothing off and pull the dry faded blue t-shirt over his head. Then he walked into the bathroom and came back out with a towel and a bottle of ointment.

He gently dried Harley's hair and laid him back down. Pepper sat up and ran her fingers through the dirty-blonde hair as Tony put some ointment on the bruise on the side of the child's face. After that he gently scooped him up again and made his way back to the door to out Harley on the couch when Peppers soft voice reached his ears.

"Why doesn't he stay in here tonight? He's been through a lot lately"

Tony nodded and walked back over to his side of the bed He got in and pulled Harley back into his side. His head resting on his chest. Pepper turned off the light and snuggled into his other side. Eventually she fell asleep as well. But he stayed up. Harley whimpered and he gently rubbed his cheek with his thumb shushing him once more. That's when he came to a decision, there was no way Harley was going back to that house. not if he had anything to do about it. That's when sleep overcame him.

* * *

Yah so tell me what you think! It used to be longer but I went to save the document and it deleted almost all of it. So I had to rewrite it... Anyway no seriously tell me what you think!


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